Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbing

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Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbing

I'm not sure what to do at this point. Hives (we have 2) were light, then they started getting robbed, so we upped the feeding and closed down the entrance. Got that stopped. Had strapped the hives in prep for hurricane.

That night a bear came through and flipped them both all the way over onto their tops. DH came home and bear fled. We flipped them back over (it was dark) and straightened them back out as much as possible. Moved them inside the backyard and strapped them to the fence (for storm and bear prep).

NOW they are being robbed again. Do I open them up and see about consolidating them? hope for the best? It's a free for all out there....I have NO IDEA what to do at this point. I feel like just hoping for the best and not dealing with it.

If the one hive is as bad off as I think it is, should we make it into a nuc (if the queen is still alive?) I hate to off a perfectly good queen...

UGH. Advice please. We are new beekeepers...Actually at this point, I'd be more inclined to say we are bee havers at best...and yuck.

Re: Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbin

Read this article on robbing and how to prevent it. You may find something to save your hives. I don't agree with the last recommendation in that article: I do not recommend opening adjacent hives hoping that will stop the robbing. Good luck

LeeB
I try to learn from my mistakes, and from yours when you give me a heads up :)

Re: Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbin

Horrible
So much is happening in short period of time... as new beekeeper I do understand your frustration. But what I learned from my just 1 year with bees is that the problem will be solved (by bees) sooner or later... not necessary in the way how you would like, but it will be solved...

As for now, I am not in position to give you expert advise, but as a beginner with limited understanding of bees, I would completely shut all entrances (make sure there is some ventilation) at least for 24 hours. Since hurricane is coming, it would be safer for bees to spend some time inside. Hopefully hurricane discourage robbers... If not, you may need to make literally 2-bees entrance and feed them syrup from the TOP feeder very carefully - do not spill syrup anywhere. For such purpose, I have an inner cover board with round hole to accommodate a pint jar with syrup (upside down, small holes in the lid). I would cover the jar with additional empty box with top - no sweet stuff exposed to outside! Good luck and keep us posted! Sergey

Re: Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbin

I have been having robbing of a weak hive AND one strong hive. I just shut them up tight and made one small (3/8 inch ) entry. Even now there is occasionally some wrestling/fighting at that entry. But the girls are on guard and challenge every bee coming in. There is plenty of Goldenrod here so lack of nectar/pollen sources shouldn't be causing this robbing???

Re: Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbin

I am sorry to hear your troubles. I had robbing problems of a big hive and found great advice on this forum. In my situation I put a top feeder on the hive with water and put some pollen patty in the hive. I then shut it up completely, leaving the screened bottom open. I left them in there for 4 days. Luckily I caught it early and they still have decent honey stores. While they were in 'lock down' I closed down the entrances to all my other hives to about 1 bee space to prevent the robbers switching to another hive. So far this seems to have worked... Good luck!

Re: Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbin

Update on Hives. Bear came through again on fri pm/sat am so Saturday opened them both up, one was dead. fair number of dead bees, queen on comb, looking perfect and dead. probably not enough cluster to keep her warm. moved the small amount of comb with pollen and honey to the other hive.

Broke down hive 2, small amount of bees, didn't see queen, but saw some brood in various stages and eggs, so will just hope for the best. put all the good frames in. Very little stored honey here either. Put new sugar syrup 2:1 in jars on top of inner cover opening and put and empty hive body on the top and replaced the lid. It got COLD while working on the bees, so hope the remaining brood didn't get too chilled. *sigh*. If this hive dies (and it looks like it will) we're done I think, we cannot afford to buy bees for the 3rd year in a row. So if a swarm doesn't happen that we can go grab, I'm pretty sure we're out.

Re: Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbin

yes, we are also outside of hartford. Top feeder. But now that the hive is ratchet strapped closed, I'll probably put out open feed away from the hive...I don't think I'm going to keep opening it to put feed in...feeling pretty bummed about this whole bee deal

Re: Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbin

Originally Posted by KellyS

yes, we are also outside of hartford. Top feeder. But now that the hive is ratchet strapped closed, I'll probably put out open feed away from the hive...I don't think I'm going to keep opening it to put feed in...feeling pretty bummed about this whole bee deal

It sounds like you have done all you can. I'm sure you will not put food away from the hive that would attract that bear, right? Too bad you aren't closer, I have some extra stores that would help them make the winter.

LeeB
I try to learn from my mistakes, and from yours when you give me a heads up :)

Re: Hint from universe? Hives being robbed, then a bear, then a hurricane, now robbin

Tough luck. My experience with bears is that they don't forget and they tell their friends. You might want to look into an infrared body heat and motion detector with siren. They are cheap and work but on the negative side can be tripped by dogs, cats, racoons .... A little more expensive are electric fences (http://margosupplies.com/public/cana...able_fence.htm) which work best. Good luck. It can only get better.